The concept of the present invention has its genesis in solving the problem of “knowledge churn”. It provides a new information management system capable of containing process knowledge and of utilizing this contained knowledge to manage common business, litigation and other activities in new ways.
Until the advent of computers, the traditional method of creating and maintaining knowledge was to store it in paper-based documents. A fundamental problem with this method is that the paper-based documents containing the stored knowledge are often archived in an inconvenient manner without an easy means of accessing and manipulating the stored data to allow its modification or re-use in a different context. This often leads to non-use and aging of the stored information to an extent that the obsolescence of the information serves as a disincentive to its modification or re-use at a later time or in a different context. This disincentive leads to a habit on the part of many individuals to commit the stored information to memory instead of referring to the storage source when re-use is necessary. This in turn leads to inefficiencies in the conduct of activity within an organization because of the informality of permitting critical knowledge to reside entirely or at least partially within the minds of individuals instead of storing this information in a mutable, physical way that will allow its easy manipulation and re-use in different contexts.
This informal mental retention of critical information leads to a problem known as “knowledge churn”, wherein the quality, depth and usefulness of the organizational knowledge that resides within the mind of an individual is compromised when that individual leaves the organization or is no longer responsible for performing the set of responsibilities to which the knowledge relates. This requires a new individual to “re-learn” a lot of the information that had already been internalized and used efficiently by the previously responsible organization member, leading to inefficiencies in organizational operations. For example, in the manufacture of a product, a value is attached to the product that takes into account the labor necessary to produce the product. If the individuals responsible for making the product leave the organization, a lot of the skills, knowledge and experience that are uniquely necessary to produce that product depart with them, leading to a “knowledge churn” which results in the expenditure of a higher level of resources than previously needed to produce the product, due to the need to train new individuals who do not yet possess the skills, knowledge and experience of those individuals who departed.
With the advent of computers, the problem of “knowledge churn” is capable of being solved in unique ways due to the power of the computer to receive, access, process, store and transmit digital information so that it can be manipulated and re-used in different contexts. From the advent of word processing programs to the increasing power of personal computers and the development of software enabling communication in alternative mediums, forms and formats, the problem of “knowledge churn” can be solved in the sense of being able to represent complex issues and concepts ways that people can easily understand based on their common experience of comprehending information in many different forms either alone or in combination with each other at different times or at once. For example, textual-based content is capable of communicating information only in a basic written form, whereas a graphic presentation is capable of presenting communicating information in a richer visual environment. And just as “a picture is worth a thousand words”, an audiovisual-based presentation of sequentially presented audible and visual images is “worth a thousand pictures” in its ability to convey a story to the user of the information. When these different forms of presenting information are combined with each other in various ways, complex issues become much easier to reduce to a more basic level of understanding. For example, a person can never actually experience the sensation of confronting a dinosaur, but the computer-aided graphic and audiovisual images used in the motion picture “Jurassic Park” permit the viewer to experience a fully rendered, computer-based simulation of the reality of being in physical proximity to a dinosaur that conjures up the assumed fear of being in such a situation in the human mind.
Thus, the advent of digital computer processing has-permitted the presentation of information in different mediums, forms and formats to enable the representation of complex concepts in ways that truly enhance an understanding of the issue. When this technology is combined with transmission of the computer-based data over the Internet, more fundamental ways of communicating are possible, due to the possibility for interactive, multidirectional multimedia communications originated from anywhere in the world and made instantaneously available anywhere in the world to or from any number of different locations in the world simultaneously, if desired. This permits not only the mutable storage of critical information in a way that it can be easily manipulated for re-use, but also a multimedia digital representation of that information that permits an ease of understanding and a reality of experience that can be deployed over the Internet, not just in a broadcasting sense, but in an interactive, multidirectional sense so that different users can experience the information real-time, at the same time from anywhere in the world.
The present invention transforms this basic concept into an engineered system for managing the information known as a “Knowledge Kiosk”™, which is intended to represent the idea of a central repository of information where individuals come to convey and exchange knowledge. The present invention has initially been applied to the management of the litigation process, used by attorneys to manage information acquisition, exchange and workflow, but it also has application to management of virtually any other type of information in any other type of endeavor or business. In the litigation context, it permits all of the activity relating to the litigation of complex legal issues to be efficiently managed, being particularly suited to permitting major litigation or other business activity involving years and hundreds or thousands of hours of effort to be handled with a minimum of manpower. It accomplishes this purpose by eliminating the “knowledge churn” inherent in the involvement of multiple individuals in the process, through creation of a system which takes advantage of concepts utilized in linguistics and library science for uniform categorization of the various types information involved, combining this method of organization with computer software and internet technology to allow the receipt, access, processing, storage, retrieval, transmission and utilization of audible, visual and textual data for real-time interactive use by multiple users in different remote environments, and utilizing alternative combinable multimedia digital data forms of presenting the information to simplify and maximize human understanding.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide the presentation of information in different multimedia digital forms and formats to enable the representation of complex concepts in ways that enhance human understanding.
It is another object of the present invention to provide technology that is combined with transmission of the computer-based data over the Internet to permit interactive, multidirectional multimedia digital data communications originated from anywhere in the world and made instantaneously available anywhere in the world to or from any number of different locations simultaneously, if desired.
It is another object of the present invention to provide technology that permits not only the mutable storage of critical information in a way that it can be easily manipulated for re-use, but also a multimedia digital representation of that information that permits an ease of understanding and a reality of experience that can be deployed over the Internet, not just in a broadcasting sense, but in an interactive, multidirectional sense so that different users can experience the information real-time, at the same time from anywhere in the world.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an engineered system for managing information known as a “Knowledge Kiosk”™ intended to represent the idea of a central repository of information where individuals come to convey and exchange knowledge.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system used for management of any type of information involved in any type of endeavor or business, including litigation, by managing information acquisition, exchange and workflow to be handled with a minimum of manpower so as to eliminate the “knowledge churn” inherent in the involvement of multiple individuals in such processes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system which takes advantage of concepts utilized in linguistics and library science for uniform categorization of the various types information used in knowledge management.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system which combines concepts for organizing information utilized in linguistics and library science with computer software and internet technology to allow the receipt, access, processing, storage, retrieval, transmission and utilization of audible, visual and textual data for real-time interactive use by multiple users in different remote environments, and utilizing alternative combinable multimedia digital data forms of presenting the information to simplify and maximize human understanding.